The present invention relates generally to a heat pump system and in particular to a heat pump system that can be used for the cooling/heating of micro- and nanoscale devices and structures.
Cooling of machines or devices is typically achieved by connecting the structure to be cooled with a cold thermal reservoir. The cooling power, however, is limited by the thermal conductance of the connecting material and therefore the transfer of sensible heat.
To achieve cooling powers beyond that possible by sensible heat transfer, latent heat pumps/heat pipes are known that transport latent heat using a liquid-gas transition, e.g. using water or halogenated hydrocarbons. The latent heat stored in a liquid phase or a gas phase is transported by a pressure gradient inside the heat pipe. However, such heat pipes are typically used for macroscopic applications only. They suffer from efficiency reduction when scaled down to microscale and nanoscale applications. Besides, as they are based on liquid/gas phase transitions, they are rather costly.
Furthermore, solid-state Peltier coolers are known. While such Peltier coolers are scalable to small structures and all solid-state, they have limited efficiency, low pumping power and are rather costly as well.
Accordingly, there is a need for other heat pump systems.